German version

Leader: Priv.-Doz. Dr. Grit Herter-Sprie

The majority of lung cancers continues to be refractory to specific treatment strategies until today, despite the development targeted therapies for certain subtypes. Currently, increased response rates of lung cancers are observed when treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors rearousing the patient´s own adaptive anti-tumor immunity. However, only a minority of patients with lung cancer responds yet, and it is highly likely that application of multimodal therapy is required to tackle lung cancer.

Our group is specifically interested in deciphering the underlying mechanisms of therapeutic immunomodulation in the tumor microenvironment. We investigate the effects of targeted radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunomodulatory agents, and small molecules on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Our research focusses on the mechanisms of T cell reactivation and the targeted inhibition of neutrophil infiltration. Ultimately, the findings from our experiments serve to develop new synergistic therapeutic options in mouse models, which will help clinicians to design informed patient-tailored clinical studies for rapid translation in the human setting.

Research focuses

• Development of targeted treatment approaches in mouse models
• Immune modulation of the tumor microenvironment for cancer therapy
• Identification of synergistic mechanisms for combination therapy in lung cancer
• Pathogenesis of non-small-cell (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC)

Sabrina Weil PhD, postdoc
Carlos Carvajal Fraile, technician